Sway, a Review

In this fictionalized retelling of some of the more sordid and shocking events of the wild and heady 60s, the mix of sex, drugs, violence, and rock-and-roll is spot-on. Featured characters are some of the iconic figures of the age ~ Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones of the Stones, Anita Pallenberg, muse to both Jones and Richards consecutively, Charles Manson and Bobby Beausoleil, and Kenneth Anger, the filmmaker who knew both the Stones and Beusoleil and, thus, was at the center of the novel.

I won't pretend the novel was perfect. For instance, it was often disjointed beyond what it needed to be, and the culmination of Altamont seemed anticlimatic somehow. Yet it managed to achieve the flavor, the paranoia, the fervor of the 60s in a way that I remember at least vaguely from back in the day and that have stuck with me since I finished Sway a week ago. My favorite parts were the ones with the early Stones ~ Mick, Brian, and Keith. I don't know how faithful (no pun intended) to real life these events were, but they sure go a long way to explain things. I also enjoyed the discussions about the music, the mystique that surrounded the band, especially Mick (on whom I've had a crush since the 60s). I also found the parts about the Manson Family fascinating in a trainwreck sort of way. I read Helter Skelter a long time ago, so maybe I've just forgotten, but Sway brought things to light that I hadn't known (or remembered) before.

As I've already noted in other places, I came of age in the late 60s, and, when I say I lived through the 60s, I mean that I experienced most of what those years had to offer. In other words, while certain events shine through the purple haze with the clarity of the noonday sun, I don't clearly remember much about that time as a whole. While reading Sway, I found myself feeling a bit like you do when you remember an old dream you had a long time ago, and you KNOW it's a dream, but you suddenly can't help feeling in some eerie way that maybe it really did happen after all. Or maybe I was having a flashback.

Either way, I am glad I read this slim novel and am putting it on my TBRR (to-be-re-read) list.

The Drawing for Sway

Congratulations to the winners of the drawing for a copy of Sway, and thanks so much to everyone who stopped by to visit and left a comment. I only wish I could have given away a copy to each one of you! Perhaps next time...

Which reminds me, I'm planning a special and unprecedented event here at Just One More Page...Or Two. Christine Weiser, the author of Broad Street, which I read, enjoyed, and reviewed back in 2008, has agreed to be my guest for my first-ever interview! Christine's written a new novel ~ the first of a series, perhaps? ~ that will be coming out soon, and she recently sent me a galley copy to read and review (to be posted shortly). I have to say, I loved it!

The Mom Squad is again set in Philly, and the main character is a rock band singer/guitarist named Maya, but there are big differences between the protagonists of The Mom Squad and Broad Street. For one thing, Maya is no longer a part of the band scene. Instead, she is the fond but slightly bored and definitely stressed stay-at-home mom of what I like to think of as a "strong-willed child" (scarily reminiscent of my own darling daughter when she was that age) and the reluctant step-mom of a rebellious, resentful teenage girl (eerily reminiscent of my own darling daughter when she was that age, except for the goth look and the fact I wasn't really her step-mom, no matter what she might have wished). Maya's posse consists of two other stay-at-home moms, and the three of them get all tangled up in dirty politics and murder. wOOt! That's one way to beat the baby-blahs.

Okay, enough said. I'll be posting the review in the next day or two, and soon after hope to set the date for the interview with Christine.

SHADES OF THE 60S

Sway by Zachary Lazar

3/7/09 - My review copy of Sway showed up yesterday, and it's all I can do not to dive in right away because it looks so good! I especially like the cover art. Jagger was so gorgeous back then. (I am a sap for "bad boys," and that's sure his look in that photo.) Anyway, I started on the first page of the first chapter and when I got to page 7 I had to force myself to put it down and finish the books I'm already reading. The first chapter has to do with the Manson family, which is still one of the creepier things about the 60s. Anyway, my eyes keep getting drawn back to that cover art, but I'm holding firm (so far).

I hope to be able to start reading it on Monday after a weekend gorging on my other review books (see TBR sidebar).

Tomorrow's the drawing for the free copies of Sway, so be sure to leave a comment if you haven't already done so.

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Oboy, oboy! Or, as we used to say back in the day, groovy! No, wait ~ I never really said "groovy," did I? God, I hope not. Cool. Hip. Bitchin' maybe. Never groovy. *shudders at the thought*

Anyway, back at the ranch (another 60s slang term ~ I'm full of 'em tonight, aren't I?!), I just heard about this really cool book about the 1960s scene. I have to say, I am excited about the chance to read it! I mean, it's about the era of my own misspent youth. How can I resist? I'll be reviewing it here as soon as possible. In the meantime, here is a description of the book from the Hatchette website:

Three dramatic and emblematic stories intertwine in Zachary Lazar's extraordinary new novel, SWAY--the early days of the Rolling Stones, including the romantic triangle of Brian Jones, Anita Pallenberg, and Keith Richards; the life of avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger; and the community of Charles Manson and his followers.

Lazar illuminates an hour in American history when rapture found its roots in idolatrous figures and led to unprovoked and inexplicable violence. Connecting all the stories in this novel is Bobby Beausoleil, a beautiful California boy who appeared in an Anger film and eventually joined the Manson "family."

With great artistry, Lazar weaves scenes from these real lives together into a true but heightened reality, making superstars human, giving demons reality, and restoring mythic events to the scale of daily life.

"One hypnotic tone poem.... It is not the now-historic acts of violence that make Sway so riveting, but its vivid character portraits and decadent, muzzy atmosphere, all rendered with the heightened sensory awareness associated with drugs and paranoia.

The near miniaturist precision with which he describes Keith Richards's attempts to master his guitar, Brian Jones's acid trips and Anger's obsessive desire for Beausoleil bring this large-scale tableau into stunning relief." --Liz Brown, Time Out New York

I've got up to five copies to give away courtesy of the nice folks at Hatchette Book Group. To enter, please leave a comment here along with a way for me to get hold of you if your name is pulled from the hat. You can also blog about this contest for a second entry. Contest ends March 8 when I put all the names in the aforesaid hat and get my neighbor's cat to pick the winners. *mreow* >^..^<

Open only to U.S. and Canadian residents with a mailing address other than a P.O. Box.

*slouches over to pile of CDs to see if I can find my copy of Beggars' Banquet*